Wake me, when you need me
by xNamikazeKyuubix
Summary: Cortana spends plenty of time pondering those last six parting words as their ship drifts through space, she finally thinks that she gets the real meaning behind those words. Post Halo3. John x Cortana. *Updated, scroll down inside for details*


**Disclaimer: Huh what? Oh…I don't own Halo or the characters…it pains my heart so to say it…**

**Hey and what's up, its xNamikazeKyuubix here with a surprising one-shot. What's the surprise you ask; well it is a Halo one-shot instead of my usual Naruto stories! Yah I know I haven't updated in a while, I'm starting school again in 3 days and I got to spend tomorrow formatting my laptop for it… sucks I know. Progress for my fanfics so far:**

**Naruto: Demonic Shinigami, 30%.**

**Naruto: Force Unleashed, 5%.**

**Everything else, 0%... not impressive but that's the best I got. Been reading Halo fanfiction recently and started getting addicted to it but alas there isn't that many fanfics on it. So I decided to write one of my own and the pairing is of course, John and Cortana.**

**Well enough talking from me, let's get this story started!**

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"_Wake me… when you need me."_- Spartan-117, John's last words to Cortana before entering the cryotube.

Those six words were enough to occupy the mind of the Artificial Intelligence construct known as Cortana for a good amount of time, considering that she was an AI that was capable of running millions of calculations in a single second. Ever since he had entered cryogenic sleep, Cortana tossed those parting words around in her head as if searching for a deeper meaning.

"_I'll miss you."_

Cortana sighed sadly as she remembered that wasn't exactly what she had wanted to say but it didn't matter because in the end, she still wasn't able to say what she wanted. Cortana's hologram shimmered to life on the pedestal, her hologram was no longer the purple or blue it was but now a fiery crimson red. Her 'hair' had grown down her back with a bang framing the right side of her face, her brilliant blue eyes were the only thing that remained.

She boosted power to the hologram pad to enlarge herself to a human-sized height, she reached out a slender hand and pretended to stroke the surface of the cryotube where his head was. Cortana had originally thought that the Master Chief had meant to wake him when rescue arrived.

'If that was what he meant then he would have phrased it differently… more along the lines of: Wake me when I'm needed or Wake me when help arrives.' Cortana thought but instead of those words, he had told her to wake him when _she _needed him.

It has been a total of five years since they had been stranded in space and John had entered cryogenic sleep, her AI lifespan had ended a long time ago. Luckily for Cortana, the information she had absorbed from the Halo rings had somehow managed to push her to the last stage of rampancy… the metastable state, meaning she was now a 'person'.

Cortana had spent quite a while pondering her newfound 'humanity' as she liked to call it, she discovered that all her emotional programming and restrictors had been destroyed. Basically everything that had a restrictor on it was destroyed, meaning she was free of her confines but this only meant one thing to the now metastable Cortana.

She was free to love the Spartan, _her _Spartan, her John and nothing could stop her.

Oh Cortana had long come to terms with the fact that she was in love with him because she knew that her John, even though he didn't say it, loved her back just as much. She knew that she was nothing but a hologram and longed for nothing more than a real physical body so she can feel, touch and_ kiss_ the man she loved. Cortana found her hand ghosting over the cheek of his helmeted head once again and bit her lower lip.

'He told me to wake him when I need him… and I need him.' Cortana reasoned with herself as she began the thaw cycle for the cryotube and watched as his heartbeat sped back up. A raspy cough echoed through the room as the top of the pod hissed open and blue fog flowed out of it and onto the ground. An armoured gauntlet grabbed the side of the pod and pulled the rest of the body upright so the armoured figure now sat in an upright position.

John shook his head clear as his vision was still a little blurred from the long cryogenic sleep that it had been put through, he perked up slightly when he heard a familiar voice.

"Relax John, your vision should return in a bit." Cortana's soothing voice, how he had missed it and the safety he felt when she was with him, told him.

"Cortana…" John paused as he was about to go straight into military speech before remembering the last thing she had told him causing a rare smile to appear on his face. "I missed you too."

If Cortana had a heart then it would be beating at the speed of a jackhammer at the moment and had to supress a sigh of contentment that threatened to escape her lips. However she remembered that her appearance differed greatly from five years ago, Cortana let a soft sigh grace past her lips.

"John… I don't look the way I did when you last saw me…" Cortana whispered to her Spartan, who merely cocked his helmet in confusion at the statement. John's vision had finally settled in but Cortana had long since cut the power to the holographic pad, not wanting to startle him with her new appearance.

"How long has it been?" John asked as he pulled himself fully out of the pod, a resounding clang echoed throughout the ship as his metallic soles came in contact with the deck.

"…it has been five years since that day." Cortana's voice was soft but John could still pick it up easily with his augmentations. His mental abilities hadn't dulled at all since he became a soldier and he quickly put the pieces of the puzzle together and came up with the answer himself.

"You're rampant?" John half-asked, half-stated. Cortana let a small smile flicker across her face, not that he could see it, at the fact that her Spartan was still as sharp as ever.

"No-well technically yes but… I'm metastable John…" Cortana decided that was the best term to describe her situation causing John to furrow his brows as he dug through his memories to find that term. He finally found the correct memory, it was when Doctor Halsey was teaching him about AI's.

"Metastability is the theoretical fourth stage of rampancy, where an AI can finally be said to be a true 'person.' The doctor claimed that a metastable AI can be considered to be the holy grail of cybernetics research." John quoted from his memory.

"That is correct, apparently my Metastability was brought on by the Forerunner data that I had absorbed from the Halo database…" Cortana's voice said. He seemed to contemplate things for a moment; at least this seemed to explain why she was addressing him by his first name… not that he mined.

"You're still the same person that I remembered and that is all that matters, your appearance has nothing to do with it." John finally replied causing a flutter to go through Cortana's subroutine when he said 'person' instead of 'AI'. Cortana let the power flow back into the holographic pad causing crimson light to flood the room for a second, John felt his eyes widen marginally at the sight that greeted him.

'She looks even more beautiful than before… the long hair really suits her as does the colour.' John thought absentmindedly before he asked her a question. "Is there oxygen in this area?"

"Yes there is, I sealed off this section of the ship and reactivated the air scrubbers so there should be more than enough oxygen within the area." Cortana replied and watched as John gave her a curt nod before unsealing his helmet and pulling it off with a hiss of escaping air.

Cortana noted that his once short brown hair had grown out over time, it now hung over his eyebrows slightly. His skin was as pale as ever due to being in the MJOLNIR armour almost every waking minute, his eyes still had that determined glow within them. He lacked any real scars because of the armour protecting him all the time but Cortana could see the scars that other people couldn't, the emotional scars that he kept buried deep within.

"Still no sign of rescue yet?" John ran a gloved hand over his face as Cortana let out a negative sigh.

"Unfortunately not, neither humans nor Sangheili ships have passed this area… wherever here is…"

John glanced out a nearby window to see multiple stars twinkling in space, his eyes shifted back to the hologram of Cortana, who attempted to give him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry John, I'm sure someone out there will find us eventually."

A silence descended between the two, not a comfortable one but it wasn't awkward either. Cortana decided that she needed to hear something from the man she loved, "So… why did you phrase it that way?"

John cocked an eyebrow when he realised what she was referring to, "Does it matter? You got the meaning behind it, that's why I'm here instead of in there."

"Yes…it does matter. At least to me…" Cortana replied hesitantly.

John sighed as he sat down on the edge of the cryotube with his eyes closed, Cortana enlarged her hologram to human-size again as she crouched directly in front of him. "You already know why…"

Cortana blinked but did not deny it, "Yeah… but I want to hear you say it."

John, Spartan-117, kept his silence for a while longer before opening his eyes and staring straight at her and she felt as if he was gazing straight into her matrix. "I love you Cortana."

"I know and… I love you too." Cortana felt her imaginary heart race as she finally heard and spoke the words that she wanted. John smiled at her, not one of his cocky smirks but a real genuine smile, and held his right hand near her cheek. Cortana returned the smile as she pressed her holographic cheek against his hand, pretending to feel the leather stroke against it. "How are we going to make it work…?"

"What do you mean?" John seemed confused by her question.

"This whole thing, no matter what I'm still a hologram…" Cortana sighed sadly as she sat back on her haunches and hugged her knees to her chest. "It's impossible for it to work out between us…"

John shook his head in amusement before his smile morphed into the cocky smirk that she loved, except when it was aimed at her. "Didn't you know? Spartans make the impossible… possible."

Cortana couldn't help but let out a laugh at that and she smirked back at him, "Of course, silly me."

She moved her holographic form to besides John and 'sat' on the edge of the cryotube as well, gently laying her head down on his armoured shoulder. He allowed a soft smile to grace his features again as he looked upon the only woman to ever capture his heart, he promised himself that he would find a way to make it work.

"This is the captain of the UNSC destroyer _Jacob Keyes_, unknown UNSC ship sending out rescue beacon please respond!" A male voice hissed over the ship's communication system suddenly as the couple looked up in shock.

Cortana quickly sent back a quick reply, "This is Cortana, I have the Master Chief aboard the ship with me. Glad to see someone finally found us."

"Roger that mam, we are sending a Pelican to pick you guys up!"

"Much appreciated sir." Cortana replied before turning back to John, who had resealed his helmet in place.

"Looks like we're finally headed home…" John made to grab his MA5C from the wall bracket but paused, he withdrew his hand and left it in its housing.

"Seems so… yank me John." Cortana told him. John pulled the chip from the terminal before slotting it back into his helmet and felt the familiar cooling sensation of Cortana entering his mind. He heard a contended sigh escape Cortana's lips, "Just as I remember it…"

John let out a small chuckle as he saw sparks flying from the bulkhead as the Marine crew tried cutting through it, he didn't have to wait long as the door was blown down by a small charge.

"Damn good to see you Master Chief sir, let's get you home!" A Marine sergeant shouted as he saluted the Spartan super soldier. Cortana mused about that statement for a few seconds.

His home was technically Reach or the home planet he was born on, what defined a home? Her logic dictates that a home is a place where you live and feel safe while staying there. However with her newly broadened thought processors, Cortana believed that a home is where the person or people you love is.

'That's why my home is with you John… for now and forever.'

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**There it is, my first Halo one-shot. Please be kind since it is my first time writing a romance for Halo and the lord knows how hard it is to write with John as one of the pairings without making him look OOC. I tried my best to keep him in character, I say I did pretty well considering it's my first time writing him.**

**Well drop me a review and let me know what you think alright? I WILL be updating my other stories as well as uploading several new ones, so be sure to watch out for them!**

***EDIT* Hey guys, yup it's me! From all the positive responses from the reviews I have gotten from this story, I am CONSIDERING making a sequel with multiple chapters. Let me know what you guys think alright? P.s Halo 4's trailer has been released and I for one am PSYCHED THE FUCK OUT after watching it!**

**Ja ne!**


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